Strangely, just after reading this post somebody happened to link me to this Tumblr thread:
tainbocuailnge:
something ive noticed after being a hobby cosplayer for years is that in a lot of places the general consensus seems to be that wearing costumes in public is weird and/or socially unacceptable, but whenever I’m in costume in public while on the train to the con venue or having a photoshoot on location or something, people by and large fucking love my costume. they think it’s so cool. kids think my costume rocks. their parents are impressed that I made it myself. random grandmas tell me my armor kicks ass. I was at a japanese garden once and barely got around to doing the photoshoot me and my homies came there to do because swathes of visitors who had never heard the word cosplay before were lining up to take a picture with me.
it’s the same thing with adjacent hobbies like larp or reenactment or fursuiting, the general image of the hobby is that you’re weird nerds (and probably also sex perverts) for playing dressup despite not being a child but when you’re actually in costume the response from random normies is categorically positive. I inevitably get weird looks from the kind of people who think having a tattoo is an affront to god but they give me that look for just existing with blue hair and pronouns too and the people who actually talk to me always do because they wanted to tell me they love my costume. and the response that always gets me the most is when they say it looks fun but they would never dare to do the same. it’s such a shame. why did wearing a silly little costume have to become an act of bravery.
scifigrl47:
A couple of years ago, a bunch of Star Wars costumers went to a state park and met for a photo shoot. The organizer notified the park staff that we were coming only to take still pictures, no video, no commercial use items. We gathered together and lugged our stuff into a fairly low traffic location, set up a portable changing tent for those who needed it and got dressed.
Our scout troopers and Jedi and Sith posed against the rock crags and forests and in dappled sunlight. We got great pictures.
And every once in a while someone would come around the bend and find something TRULY unexpected.
Most people scrambled backwards or ducked behind the nearest tree, apparently thinking they’d stumbled into a film shoot of some kind. A few took pictures from a distance.
Once we explained, all of them were delighted. How strange. How wonderous. Two little boys took pictures with every single costumer, a woman sat on a rock and just watched, one guy called home to FaceTime his brother.
The world is mundane and predictable and painful sometimes. And breaks to that are magic. Little bursts of a world turned on its head. In the best way.
By all means wear what you want, but the positive reactions you get from strangers who directly approach you are not necessarily an accurate way to gauge how most people are reacting to your outfit. You’re sampling from the population of “people who have spontaneously chosen to engage with you”.
Generally when you wear a polarising outfit people who dislike it won’t go out of their way to tell you. I’m extroverted enough that I will (very occasionally) complimented strangers in public on nice/unusual outfits, but I’ve never told a stranger their outfit is bad.
”I inevitably get weird looks from the kind of people who think having a tattoo is an affront to god but they give me that look for just existing with blue hair and pronouns too”
This line in particular just seems like bad epistemics. Is it really likely that everyone who reacts badly to their outfit would also judge them for having coloured hair?
Strangely, just after reading this post somebody happened to link me to this Tumblr thread:
By all means wear what you want, but the positive reactions you get from strangers who directly approach you are not necessarily an accurate way to gauge how most people are reacting to your outfit. You’re sampling from the population of “people who have spontaneously chosen to engage with you”.
Generally when you wear a polarising outfit people who dislike it won’t go out of their way to tell you. I’m extroverted enough that I will (very occasionally) complimented strangers in public on nice/unusual outfits, but I’ve never told a stranger their outfit is bad.
”I inevitably get weird looks from the kind of people who think having a tattoo is an affront to god but they give me that look for just existing with blue hair and pronouns too”
This line in particular just seems like bad epistemics. Is it really likely that everyone who reacts badly to their outfit would also judge them for having coloured hair?